Package and method of forming the same



July 18, 1939. D. MjMcBEAN PACKAGE AND METHOD OF FORMING THE SAIE 2 Shets-Sheet 1 Filed April 13, 1934 R C T N E V m DOUGLAS M. M BEAN July 18, 1939.

D. M. M BEAN 2,166,171

RACKAGE AND METHOD OF FORMING THE SAME Filed April 13, 1934 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR DOUGLAS M. MBAN ATTORNEY Patented July 18, 1939 UNITED STATES 2,166,171 PACKAGE AND mz'rnor F FORMING THE Y SAM Douglas M. McBean, Canaioliarle, N. Y., assignor to Beech-Nut Packing Company, Canaioharie, N. Y., a corporation of New York Application April 13, 1934, Serial No. 720,410

9 Claims.

The present invention relates to packages, and has specialreference to small cylindrical packages such as packages of hard candies, in which the candies are arranged in a stack or roll that is enclosed by one or more wrappers of sheet mate'- rial. The invention further relates to a method of forming the package. 7

One of the objects of the present invention is to provide a package of this character having novel and improved wrapper opening means.

Another object of the invention is to provide a package of hard candies or other articles arranged in a roll that may be readily opened to give access to as few or to as many articles as desired while leaving the remaining articles in the package still protected by the 7 Another object of the invention is to provide in a package of this character, a string or tape for opening the package and cooperating slits 20 in the wrappers for initiating the tearing of the wrappers by the tape.

Other objects of the invention will hereinafter appear. For an understanding of the invention refer once may be had to the accompanying drawings of which:

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a package of fruit drops or the like embodying the invention;

Fig. 2 is a perspective view of the package of Fig. 1 shown partly opened:

Figs. 3 and 4 are perspective views illustrating steps in the method of wrapping the candles with glassine and waxed paper;

Figs. 5 and 6 are perspective views of the pack- 35 age of Fig. 1 before the foil has been added thereto; Fig. 7 is a perspective view similar to Fig. l

but showing the other end of the package;

Figs. 8 and 9 are perspective views illustrating the method of applying the foil; and

Fig. 10 is a perspective view similar to Fig. 1 of a package embodying the invention.

The package illustrated in Figures 1 to 10 of the drawings is of the type of the one described and claimed in the patent to Harry E. Townsend, No. 1,796,773, dated March 17, 1931. As shown, this package comprises a stack or roll of articles 2, such as hard candies that are in the form of circular disks, a sheet of waxed paper 4 wound two or more times about the peripheral surface of the roll with the ends of the paper tucked in over the ends of the roll, and a sheet of foil 9, similarly wrapped about the waxed paper wrapper. After the stack or roll is thus wrapped, heat is applied to the peripheral surface and the original wrappers."

tucked in ends of the foil wrapper to melt the wax of the waxed paper wrapper, so as to cause it to thoroughly seal the two wrappers'about the articles. It is customary also to wrap a sheet of gla'ssine or other unwaxed paper 8 about the stack 5 previously to applying the waxedpaper, the ends of the glassinewrapper projecting slightly beyond the end of the rolls of articles so as to be tucked, in during the tucking in of the' waxed paper wrapper. Also a paper label IO' maybe 10 wrapped about the foil wrapper with its longitudinal edges overlapping and pasted together.

In accordance with the present invention a tape orstrlng 12 extends longitudinally of the package between the candles I and inner wrapper 8. The

tape l2 serves as a rip cord to tear strips from the wrappers and to thereby open the package. For this purposeone end of the tape is anchored between folds of the waxed paper 4 during heat sealing thereof and the other end, which is preferably of a greater length, is'made accessible by leaving a small portion thereof free. The waxed paper where folded or pleated at the end of the package is relatively tough and will nottear easily up'on pulling'of the tape, particularly when the wax usedin preparing the paper is a relatively high melting point wax. For this reason a series of longitudinally disposed slits M are provided in wrapper 4 along the end to be opened. The slits I begin about A; inch from the edge of the paper and extend substantially to the first candy. Preferably the slits are so spaced that when the waxed paper is wound around the candies, the slits in one layer do not coincide with those in the next layer but are staggered relative thereto as shown best in Fig. 4. Similar slits I5 may be formed in the foil 6 as indicated in Figs. 8 and 9. With this arrangement, the tape, 'when pulled, readily'tears the edge of the wrapper 4 and foil 6 then tears along the slits l4 and I5 up to the 40 edge of the first candy and, from this point on easily tears strips from the wrappers longitudinally along the package as shown in Fig. 2.

- During the wrapping with the waxed paper the tape at the free end is formed into a spiral, shown in dotted lines in Figs. 5 and 8. The slack in the tape taken up by the spiral is withdrawn from beneath the folded ends of the waxed paper during wapping in the foil and again forms into a spiral positioned now between the waxed paper and the foil. The formation of this second spiral, as shown in Fig. 9 is effected by the winding of the tape about a centering finger 60, hereinafter to be described, while the extreme free end of the tape is gripped between jaws 62 associated with the finger 80. The slack or spiral in the unanchored end of the tape is of particular value in-initiating the opening of the package as it insures sufllcient length of tape for gripping by the fingers upon pulling of the relatively short end extending through the folds. When the ends of the foil are tucked in at the end of the package the spiral thus formed is concealed by the foil with the free end of the tape extending from between the folds of the foil and lying flush with the end surface of the package, as indicated in Big. 1. or tucked in under the'paper label III as indicated in Fig. 10.

The invention has now been described with reference to a specific embodiment of the new package and with reference to an improved method of forming the package. It will be apparent from the foregoing description that the invention provides a novel package having an opening tape or string longitudinally disposed along an'article and within the wrapping or wrappings thereof. In the preferred embodiment of the invention the wrappers are provided with slits-adjacent one end thereof to facilitate the tearing of the wrappers by the tape. Obviously certain features of the novel package might be advantageously employed in packaging one or more articles other than candies.

The following is claimed:

1. In a package, comprising an article of cylindrical form having a plurality of wrappings wound about the article, the improvement which comprises a tape extending longitudinally along the article and within the wrappings and having one end accessible at one end of the package and its other end anchored to the wrapping at the other end of the package, said tape serving as an opening means for the package.

2. A package according to claim 1 wherein at least one of the wrappings is provided with slits adjacent-the unanchored end of said tape to facilitate tearing of the wrappings by the tape.

3. A package comprising an article of cylindrical form, a wrapper encircling the articles in a plurality of layers, and a tape positioned within the innermost layer of said wrapper and extending longitudinally of the article, said tape having one end anchored to the wrapper at one end of the package and its other end accessible at the other end of the package and said wrapper being provided with a plurality of longitudinal slits adjacent the unanchored end (if the tape, the

slits in different layers of said wrapper being relatively staggered and serving as a guide for the tape when the same is pulled outwardly from the articles.

4. A package according to claim 3 including a second wrapper positioned about the first mentioned wrapper and likewise provided with slits adjacent the unanchored end of said tape, said unanchored end of the tape extending through the ends of the wrappers to the outside of the package and the portion of the tape between the two wrappers atthe slitted ends thereof being in the form of a spiral.

5. The method of wrapping an article of cylindrical form which includes placing a tape longitudinally along the article with relatively unequal lengths of the tape extending beyond the ends of the article, circumferentially wrapping the article and tape together in paper or the like, then folding the paper at each end of the article and anchorlngthe shorter end of the tape in the folds of the paper at that end of the P k ge.

6. The method of wrapping an article of cylindrical form which includes placing longitudinally along the article a tape of a length greater than that of the article, gripping one end of-the tape .while rolling the article -in paper to wrap the same, thereafter folding the ends of the paper wrapping at the ends of the article to enclose one end only of the tape in the folds at an end of the package.

7. Themethod of wrapping an article of cylindrical form which includes placing a tape 1011? gitudinally along the article with relatively unequal lengths of the tape extending beyond the ends of the article, longitudinally slitting a wrap per of paper or the like at one end only and circumferentially wrapping the paper in a plurality of layers about the tape and the article together with the slit end of the paper adjacent the longer end of the tape, folding the ends of the wrapper about the ends of the article and anchoring the shorter end of the tape in the folds of the paper at that end of the package.

8. The method of wrapping an article of cylindrical form which includes placing a strand longitudinally along the article with relatively unequal lengths of the strand extending beyond the ends of the article, circumferentially wrapping the article and strand together in paper or the like, folding the paper at each end of the article, anchoring the shorter end of the strand in the folds of the paper at that end of the package and then circumferentially applying a second wrapping of paper or the like and forming the longer end of the strand into a spiral between the folded ends of the two wrappings with the end of the strand projecting beyond the wrappings.

9. The method of wrapping an article of cylindrical formwhich includes placing a tearing strip on the cylindrical surface of the article and longitudinally thereof with one end of the strip projecting beyond one end of the article, winding a wrapper about the cylindrical surface of the article and over the tearing strip with the ends of the wrapper projecting beyond the ends of the article and said projecting end of the tearing strip projecting beyond the corresponding end of the wrapper, folding the ends of the wrapper over the ends of the article, and

coiling the tearing strip beneath the adjacent folded end of the wrapper, the extreme end of the tearing strip projecting out from beneath said last-mentioned folded end of the wrapper.

DOUGLAS M. MCBEAN. 

